A joyous ceremony was held at the Tel Nof Airbase earlier this week to mark the arrival from Romania of a new Torah scroll at the base’s synagogue.

The Torah scroll, which survived the Holocaust and was held for decades in storage by the Romanian government, was dedicated in honor of fallen Israel Air Force personnel, including those who were killed in the training accident in Romania last year.

The festive ceremony at Tel Nof was attended by the IAF commander, the head of the Tel Nof Airbase, the chief rabbi of Romania and bereaved families.

“When we toured the accident site [in Romania] with bereaved families, the idea was raised to bring Torah scrolls to Israel and the Tel Nof base,” said the chief rabbi of Romania, Menachem Hacohen. “I’m very excited. It pleased me to see the blessing. The Torah scroll belongs to the entire people of Israel. This was great cooperation.”

Ten Torah scrolls were brought from Romania to Israel. When the scrolls arrived, nine were found to have irreparable defects.

The bereaved families of the Romania crash victims visited the crash site in September.

“Thank you to those who took us to Romania, it provided closure for us,” said a representative of the families.